I’m writing these words at in Polignano a Mare, a resort town on southern Italy’s Adriatic coast, wondering what awaits my wife Betty and me when we fly home Wednesday morning. From what I can learn here, Hurricane Sandy turned the Mid-Atlantic states inside out.

Any anxiety we feel, however, is dwarfed by what has happened to residents of the hardscrabble Lincoln Apartments. Their world is inside out and upside down with the closing of the property long operated by the Lincoln Hospital Foundation.

It’s not that the foundation wanted to close the 150-unit complex, built in the 1960s for low-income tenants. Nobody wanted to evict the 100 or so residents still there a month after the foundation gave notice of closing Oct. 31. This is heart-wrenching stuff for whomever it touches.

The fact is, the bills came due for the foundation. According to staff writer Jim Wise’s reports, few of the tenants were current with their rents. A big overdue water bill and no prospect of rents being paid was the last step on the plank for the foundation.

Without adequate and reliable rental income, no apartment complex can stay open. So an eminently predictable protest march Monday afternoon from the Department of Social Services to City Hall was not only unfair to the foundation but also a wasted effort.

The foundation could have helped its case by being more accessible about its decision to close the apartments and what it could do to help the people about to lose the roof over their heads. As the least of the least among us, they have very few options, and some believe they have none at all.

These people are the permanent underclass in American society. We can argue about whether they are solely responsible for their fate or whether they are victims of an unjust economic system, but let’s leave pettifoggery for another time.

The former residents of Lincoln Apartments need immediate help. There is little that cash-strapped local governments can do, although Social Services and Bless Durham, a faith-based charity, have provided some financial aid.

As City Councilman Steve Schewel said, this is the time for churches, rescue missions and individuals to step up.

Non-government organizations often move faster than government agencies. Sure, charities such as the Durham Rescue Mission mix some old-time religion along with their aid, but the mission’s record is beyond reproach. The Salvation Army is another faith-based organization with a splendid history of helping the helpless.

In short, Durham has a good reputation for extending generosity to people in need. Government has a role, of course, but it’s far better for the community if individuals and private agencies play a larger role.

That’s because the problems that we leave to government are the problems we don’t see – or don’t want to see. If Chicago is the city of broad shoulders, let us now be the city of the big heart.